Project Management Linked to Food Acquisition Program – Simultaneous Donation in Minas Gerais State

Abstract

The Food Acquisition Program – Direct Purchase Modality with Simultaneous Donation (PAA-DS) is a public policy designed for family agriculture, in which only associations and cooperatives can access this mode. This paper mapped the managerial tools of such organizations in the State of Minas Gerais, which choice was due to the importance of its family agriculture in the Brazilian scenario. The results, collected through an online questionnaire with 117 respondents with experience in the management of PAA-DS in these bidder organizations – mainly associations – showed that most of the organizations did not finish the project on time. The main reasons for this were: i) the absence, in most of these associations, of a Management Information System able to aggregate, in a single program, every management step of PAADS; and ii) lack of strategic planning in the activities of the bidder organizations and of those that, in performing such activity, do it mainly in the short term. However, some positive points in the management of these projects were observed, such as the existence in most of cases of a person exclusively responsible for the conduction of PAA-DS within the organization, as well as evidence of administrative functions such as Planning (especially with respect to farmers’ production), Organization, Direction and Control (PODC).